


No. 14 Branding (Lancelot)

by Onehelluvapilot



Series: Whumptober 2020 [15]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural (TV) Fusion, Branding, Burns, Dragons, Excalibur, Gen, Hurt Lancelot (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, Whumptober 2020, the kind from Supernatural not the sexy kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27006628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: Lancelot gets captured by dragons after the plan to use him as bait goes wrong. One of them doesn't take kindly to his attitude.
Relationships: Lancelot & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952440
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	No. 14 Branding (Lancelot)

Right about now, Lancelot was wishing he’d let Cindy Maquire, the grateful almost-vampire-victim he’d rescued back when he was nineteen, take him to bed when she’d offered. He’d been waiting for _ the one _ , and had known she wasn’t it, but it probably wouldn’t have been  _ bad _ and at least then he wouldn’t have been bait for a dragon who exclusively kidnapped virgins.

“Move,” the man/dragon snarled, shoving Lancelot’s back hard enough that he stumbled forward. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to resist, but he’d never liked bullies or monsters, so he turned around to face it and braced his feet as well as he could on the slippery ground of the sewer. “Oh, you think you’re tough, huh? Idiot. There’s a reason I usually only kidnap girls.” It reached out, hand splayed wide and Lancelot prepared himself for a shove. It didn’t come, as the dragon instead splayed a hand over his chest, pressing firmly as it began to glow. His flannel began to smoke, then burned through his undershirt, until the scaly hand was against his bare skin, setting it alight. Lance screamed, legs buckling from the pain of the burn. 

The dragon grabbed him before he could completely collapse, tossing him into a pit with the other virgins he had kidnapped. One darted forward to catch him before he could crack his head open on the filthy concrete, but the other women all cowered in the back until the dragon had gone. Lancelot couldn't blame them. He wouldn't want to risk getting burned like this either, now that he knew what it felt like. One of the women grabbed his arms to keep him from clutching the burn on his chest as he rolled onto his side to curl up in pain. Another stripped off her sweater, even though it was cold down here in the sewers, and balled it up and slipped it under his head as a pillow. He bit his lip to keep from screaming, not wanting to scare them. Once he had realized that the virgins were being kept alive, he'd hoped to reassure them and perhaps organize them to escape or help Merlin and Arthur when they mounted a rescue attempt. He probably should have thought about that before challenging the dragon, since now the pain was so great that he couldn't even think about moving, much less offering any advice.

"Here, you can squeeze my hand if you need to," someone said as a soft hand slipped into his. Lance took her up on the offer immediately, just for something to do to distract himself from the pain. He focused on the knowledge that the GPS tracker was secure in his pocket and prayed for Merlin to find them quickly.

Merlin followed Arthur slowly down into the sewers. Lancelot’s GPS tracker gave them a general idea of where they were going, but it was still hard to navigate in the winding tunnels, and he almost worried that they’d taken a wrong turn until he noticed something glinting ahead of them. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a pair of earrings. 

“From one of the kidnapped girls?” Arthur suggested. Merlin shook his head, shining his flashlight farther down the tunnel to where a gold watch lay.

“Dragons apparently do hoard gold,” he remarked. Encouraged by the sign that they were headed in the right direction, they continued on. Arthur raised the dragon sword, keeping it ahead of him as they walked.

They heard a scream in front of them and instantly Arthur rushed in, followed right after by Merlin. There wasn’t much he could do without a sword, so he ran over quickly to the pit where he could see the kidnapped women. As he knelt down, he saw that Lancelot was in the pit too, with one of the girls propping him up. His face was lined with pain and Merlin was regretting allowing him to serve as bait, and for allowing him to be taken.

“I’m gonna get you out,” he reassured them, and after a quick glance at Arthur to make sure he was still engaged fighting the dragon, he used his powers to break the melted iron holding the grate on top of the cage closed. One of the women immediately jumped out, grabbed a rusted pipe off the ground, and went after the dragon. Merlin helped an older virgin out before reaching down for Lancelot, as a teen with a short hairstyle helped him up from the other side. She clambered out after and grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

There was a shout as Arthur slayed the dragon with help from the woman with the pipe. “Hah! Take that!”

“If you’re done, we need help over here,” Merlin barked as Lancelot slumped forward, barely conscious. The girl tried to help keep him from face planting, but he was heavy and she was hampered by not being able to touch his chest due to the burns upon it. Merlin pulled one of Lancelot’s arms around his shoulders, and Arthur came over to grab the other. “Thanks, but we’ve got it from here,” Merlin said to the girl who had helped. He passed her his flashlight and she made sure to light their steps as they and the other virgins made their way out of the sewers, leaving behind the dragon’s body.

The teen helped them get Lancelot, who was still drifting in and out of awareness due to the pain, into the car, before announcing that she was going to stay and call the police to report what had happened. "I'll leave your descriptions out of it, say it was too dark for me to see you," she said after realizing that they weren't sticking around and extrapolating from there.

"Thanks," Merlin said, and it wasn't just for lying to the police for them but also for looking after Lancelot when he couldn't. They took the injured hunter back to their motel, laying him back gently on one of the beds. Little bits of ash sprinkled off of him onto the sheets and it quickly became apparent that what Merlin had thought was a rip in his clothes was actually a hole burned through them. Since they were already ruined, he cut away his flannel and undershirt, only to gasp when his skin was revealed.

“That bad?” Lance asked. Merlin hadn’t even realized he was awake, since his eyes were pressed closed and he held himself so still.

“It’ll be okay,” he quickly reassured his friend. “Arthur, go get the med kit from the car and some ice from the machine.” Normally, the Man of Letters would have objected to being ordered around by his secretary, but he knew Gaius had been teaching Merlin first aid and that he should defer to his greater knowledge in this situation, for Lancelot’s sake. Merlin went to fetch a warm wet washcloth from the bathroom and began to gently clean the handprint-shaped burn branded onto his chest. It was large, with fingertips stretching up to his collarbone and palm seared across his ribs, and mostly second-degree with some actual blackening around the edges, likely due to extreme heat. No wonder Lance was in so much pain.

“Will it scar?” he asked, opening his eyes for a brief second to glance down at his chest and the brand seared into it.

“It might. Try not to worry about it. Even if it scars, that wouldn’t be so bad. Ladies love a scar, I’m told, especially if it was gotten during heroic pursuits.”

“Merls, I’m not super interested in trying to impress women, if you hadn’t noticed,” Lance joked, though his voice was still tight with pain. “How do you think I got into this mess?”

Merlin laughed. “I suppose you’re right about that.” Arthur returned with the medical bag and some ice, and their de-facto medic spread some antibiotic aloe salve over the burn before arranging the ice, wrapped in a towel, over Lancelot’s chest. “There, that feel alright?” he asked, but the injured hunter had already fallen asleep.


End file.
